Study for the siesta 1958

Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, or Balthus, as he is better known, made this artwork as a study, in preparation for a larger composition. As an artist, Balthus was associated with the New Objectivity movement which rejected the abstract art that was in vogue at the time. While he refused to align himself with any movement, he nonetheless produced representational paintings of people and landscapes. His approach was informed by an appreciation of the Old Masters. Flowers in art have long been associated with beauty and often feminine beauty, or with a sense of the fleeting nature of life. But such imagery has rarely existed outside of social structures of patronage and institutions of art. To truly understand the meaning of this image, we might look at the ways in which these themes were understood at the time Balthus was working, and in what ways his art sought to confirm or challenge those understandings. This kind of research will bring us closer to an understanding of the artist and his work.